We Love: Bespoke, vintage inspired wedding dresses by Ailsa Munro

November 20, 2016

What a treat we have in store for you today! Finding a wedding dress can be one of the most difficult parts of wedding planning (for some!), especially if you are after a certain, unique style. Ailsa Munromakes the most exquisite, bespoke, handmade wedding dresses, right here in the UK in Cornwall. We are especially in love with the two piece ‘Billie‘, sigh! Ailsa has such a personal touch and makes sure you are involved in the process from beginning to end. We spoke to Ailsa herself about her beautiful dresses and her wedding insights…

Tell us a bit more about Ailsa Munro Dressmakers…

I hand make bespoke wedding dresses from my studio in the South West of England. I’m heavily inspired by vintage styling, fine art and travelling around Europe, but of course my biggest inspiration comes from my brides. I think every bride should have a dress that makes her feel and look amazing, and reflects her personality and the feel of her wedding.

What inspired you to start your business?

When I was a little girl I had a vision of having my own wedding dress shop in a little village where I could sew beautiful things for happy brides. I always thought wedding dress shopping would be magical, so I was so excited to go with my big sister 3 years ago. Unfortunately, at the time the style she wanted wasn’t in fashion, so there was really not a lot of choice for her. The dresses were all very similar and not at all what she wanted. I decided then that I wanted to work in weddings, making dresses for people that they can feel really special in.

How are you different from any other similar suppliers?

There aren’t a lot of couture dressmakers around at the moment, and we’re all very stylistically different. If you described the same dress to me and to Claire Headdon for example, we would make something quite different. Designers call this “fashion handwriting”.

What do you love most about working in the wedding industry?

Your wedding day is the one event in life that you’re able to really invest time, creativity and energy into. A lot of life’s biggest, most transforming moments aren’t planned, or you don’t know that they’re changing your life until much later. With your wedding day you’re given time to really think about how you want to spend it, and you can create something really special.

What would be your number one piece of advice for a bride to be?

Choose talented suppliers, whose work you like and who you trust, and then let them do their jobs.

Tell us about the best thing you have seen at a wedding you have been to?

I used to work in Scotland and I went to my boss’s wedding there in 2014. He and his husband had waited 10 years for gay marriage to be made legal, and it was a really beautiful event. They had a Ceilidh, which is a traditional Scottish country dance, with a live band. Many of the couples in attendance were same sex, so the traditional “Men grab your Lady’s hand” instructions were moot, which caused great hilarity. It was an amazing moment where the traditions met modern life and it just worked so beautifully.

Finally, in one sentence why should someone choose Ailsa Munro?

Ailsa Munro dresses make even the shyest bride feel like the most confident and beautiful version of herself.

Ailsa’s quick fire questions!

Platinum or gold…gold

Hotel or campervan…hotel

Up or down…down (as in “CALM DOWN”)

Dinner party or party party…dinner party

Band or DJ…band

Coffee or tea…tea

Smart or casual…casual

Sunrise or sunset…sunset

Thanks so much Ailsa! If you want to see more of Ailsa’s beautiful dresses or get in contact with her, then have a look at Ailsa Munro in our directory.